Blank Pages
by Chaltab
Summary: The journals of Daniel Fenton and Samantha Manson together weave another chapter in the life of Amity Park's greatest hero. Co-Written with Faith's Melody.
1. Bridget

_**From the Journal of Danny Fenton**_

_**January 13**__**th**__** 2008**_

Being a world-famous superhero isn't as easy as I thought it would be, you know? Christmas break ends tomorrow, but I almost feel like it never began. I spent the first half of it dodging people from school that wanted Danny Phantom's autograph and the second half fighting off colleges that want to recruit a superhero. It makes me miss the days when my identity was a secret. Well, not when I had to keep it a secret from my family, but… I just wish I didn't have the whole world breathing down my neck some times.

That said, I do have a few good college offers. Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tennessee of all places wants me. Who would want to go to Tennessee for anything, let alone higher education? Harvard said they appreciate me saving the world, but my grades aren't good enough. I'm definitely NOT going to the University of Wisconsin, but I don't want to go anywhere here in Illinois either. Amity Park has plenty of defenders now—Valerie, Mom and Dad, Dani. I can call a new city home.

I'm thinking about the University of Florida. It's closer to Cape Canaveral than any other university that's expressed interest.

Anyway, I guess I'd better turn in. School tomorrow.

_**January 14**__**th**__** 2008**_

Well, school went about as well as can be expected. Sam's still mad at me and won't tell me why. Every time I've tried to make it up to her, she ignores me. Tucker knows something, and won't tell me. I feel like I'm an outsider with everyone I want to be around and an insider with a bunch of strangers.

Then again, I guess I can't blame them for standing off, the way I'm always about to be trampled by a mob of fan-people. Sometimes I hate my generation.

On a more superheroic note… I saw Bridget today. Remember Bridget? No, of course you don't. You're a diary… er, journal. You don't remember anything. Okay, Bridget. She was a girl who transferred to Casper High in the spring of my Sophomore year, just after my identity went public. She was weird.

And coming from a guy that's half ghost, that's saying something. Dash always called her "Bridget the Idjit" because she'd give the most bizarre answers to questions.

"Who's the first president of the United States?"

"_William Gates."_

"Who founded Microsoft?"

"_Alfred, Lord Tennyson."_

Sam talked to her and seemed to like her, so I guess she couldn't be that stupid. Sam doesn't like stupid people. Sam always said she was just different, that her mind worked differently than everyone else's.

Then Bridget got killed—a murder that went unsolved.

But I saw her today—Bridget's ghost. She was in the girl's locker room (I was eavesdropping on Sam, trying to figure out why she's mad at me. Honest.) My ghost sense just went off, and there she was. I don't think Bridget saw me…

And as I learned the hard way with Mr. Lancer—God rest his soul—people don't become ghosts under normal circumstances.

I think Bridget was killed by a ghost, and I guess it's Danny Phantom's job to figure out who it was, and why. I'll write more when I know more.

_**From the Diary of Sam Manson**_

_**January 13, 2008**_

Christmas break officially ends tomorrow. Joy, oh rapture. Sarcasm aside, I'm disappointed that the Christmas Break didn't go as I would have liked? But what about my life ever does? I had hoped that the break would have freed the trio of us to spend our time together just fooling around like we used to. But Tucker's family had nearly the entire break busy for him with family and other guests visiting during the holiday. So I spent the weeks of freedom avoiding my family at every chance possible and stomaching all of our Hanukkah traditions.

Still, I saw Tucker more that I saw Danny.

That's really sad when you see your friend more than your boyfriend.

And I think that I'm justifiably peeved at Danny by this point. Yes, he's got responsibilities that keep him busy. Busier than he'd like to be. And no one leaves him alone despite Tucker and I trying continuously to get him or her off his case. But we were so close two years ago and now we barely get a word in to each other some days. The team we had has become his one-man show. And Danny doesn't even realize that it's happening, which is what really makes me mad.

If a ghost attacked over the break, I didn't hear about it. Danny has gotten so strong over the years that he can take care of them most of time by himself by now, but…

All I'm wanting is a call from him every few days to check in. A "Hey, Sam. Sorry we haven't talked; I've been swamped. Can we get together sometime? Hey, I've got to go, sorry, I love you."

That just made me sound like some sappy romantic. I think I'm tired; I'll get back to you when I've come to my senses.

_**January 14, 2008**_

I've got homework already, do you believe it? All that hype you hear about how easy seniors have it when you're still lower classmen is just that; hype. I have fewer classes than before, but the teachers are sadists. I feel sorry for Tucker. He has more classes than I do because he put off getting all the credits he needed for graduation.

Danny is more astute than I gave him credit for. At least he knows that I'm mad, but he doesn't know why.

Hard not to be with the stunt he pulled earlier today. He was there in the girl's locker room today. I've had four years to get accustomed to Danny's powers; it doesn't take a genius to figure out the cause when the temperature suddenly drops thirty degrees. I saw red for a bit.

Although….when I cooled off a bit, I did notice something about him. Something that potentially has me worried. For the rest of the school day, he was lost in thought and distracted. I know that face on Danny; it always meant he was contemplating something ghost related. Hard to say what he's thinking about, but I can't just let him go looking for trouble (Or have trouble come looking for him) without back up.

Maybe I'll call him. Maybe. But for now I should get to that homework.

* * *

AN: Thanks for reading. All sincere reviews are appreciated. The Danny portions are written by me, while the Sam portions are written by my wonderful girlfriend Faith's Melody. Be sure to drop her a line too, maybe it would encourage her to write more!


	2. Recollection

**From the Journal of Danny Fenton**

**January 16****th**** 2008**

Ever felt like there was some unseen force acting as a giant censor bar over your life?

I have. I used to feel as though my heroic career was kind of like the Cartoon Network version of Dragon Ball Z. Remember when Majin Buu had just killed off the entire population of Earth, and Mr. Satan and his little dog are walking through a deserted town? They go into a bar and there's a big container in the background that says ROOT BEER. Except the word ROOT is twitchy oddly colored compared to the rest of the shot, because it was added in later.

The entire population of the world was just brutally murdered… and they were worried about people being offended by a keg of beer.

I fight ghosts. Ghosts are, by definition, usually dead people. (Yeah, I know there are some that are that Jazz calls 'psychic manifestations' like Spectra and Technus, but most of them are what my mom would call 'manifestations of ectoplasmic energy and post-human consciousness. Try and say that one three times fast.)

Ectoplasmic energy is pretty straightforward. Post-human consciousness took me a bit longer to get, but once I did, it was kind of a 'duh' moment.

My enemies are dead people. But until Bridget died, there was never an instance in any of my battles as Danny Phantom where someone died due to my own actions or inactions. At the time, I didn't know that Bridget's murderer had been a ghost, but it was still a murder that happened in MY high school. Me. The world's first superhero. People wanted me to solve it, wanted me the superhero to do something, but I had no idea how to solve what appeared to be a human crime.

Finding out what I found out Monday? It was like someone reached into my world and ripped off that censor bar.

--

In other news, I finally spoke with Sam today. Not about whatever she's angry at me about—I'm going to wait until she's ready to confront _that _issue—but about Bridget.

It… didn't go so well. I sort of sneaked invisibly into her room and waited for her to get home from school. Not the smartest move.

"What are you doing here?" she shouted.

"Sam, I need to talk to you."

"Oh, NOW you need to talk to me."

I winced. I still didn't know why she was so mad at me but it was clear that this wouldn't be an easy chat.

"Look," I said. "I'm not here to argue. I just want to talk about something. Do you remember Bridget Kane?"

Sam scowled at me, putting her hands over her hips. "Bridget? Who's that?" she said. Her voice was acidic. "Oh, wait, do you mean the _girl whose body I found riddled with holes in the Casper High library?_"

I winced again. But I'll admit I deserved that one. One of the cardinal rules of dating Samantha Manson is 'never ask a stupid question' and I didn't just break it, I crushed it with a sledgehammer. I took the hint and didn't say anything more until Sam cooled off.

"Of course I remember her," she said, a bit more calmly.

"Look, I think her murderer was a ghost," I choked out. "I saw Bridget, her spirit, Monday. In the… I mean at school. I've not had time to do anything but patrols, but I'm planning on investigating tomorrow night."

Sam arched an eyebrow. "You saw her ghost?"

"Yes!"

"In the girl's locker room?"

"Yes!"

I paused.

"I mean no! Well, yes. How did you know?"

"I felt the cold when your ghost sense went off. You looked shaken the rest of the day."

I nodded. "Yeah. Suddenly an unsolved murder might have a solution. And it really is up to me to find it."

"She was killed by a gun, Danny."

"_With _a gun," I corrected.

Sam rolled her eyes. "Why would a ghost use a human weapon?"

"I don't know. Maybe they were trying to hide the nature of the crime."

"And why would a ghost want her dead?"

"I don't know that either! I don't have answers Sam, just questions!"

"And you think I have the answers?"

"No…." I thought a moment. "I just thought, maybe you noticed something weird about the crime scene. Something, I don't know, that wouldn't be in the police reports."

Sam paused, sitting down on the old chest at the foot of her bed while I hovered above her. "There was something," she said. "Next to her body, there was a book lying open… I didn't see anything printed, just blank pages. I never saw it again, after the police got there."

I frowned. It wasn't much, but it was something. I wished Sam good night as I left, not waiting to hear whether she wished me the same.

I'll write more when I know more.

* * *

**From the Diary of Samantha Manson**

**January 16, 2008**

Guess who came over today.

Danny Fenton.

And it's about damn time.

Not that everything is all patched up between us. He didn't even stay very long. This is what happened.

I'd walked into my room after school to find him there. He's done this before, and I'd never had a problem with it. But with how frustrated I am with him right now and how he surprised me, I overreacted. I shouted at him.

"What are you doing here?"

"Sam, I need to talk to you."

"Oh, NOW you need to talk to me." I gave him my patented glower and he winced. I had hoped he'd finally gotten some hint and had come over to apologize, but then……..

"Look," he said. "I'm not here to argue. I just want to talk about something. Do you remember Bridget Kane?"

Do I look like an idiot? "Bridget? Who's that?" I asked. My voice was dripping with venom. "Oh, wait, do you mean the _girl whose body I found riddled with holes in the Casper High library?_"

He was wincing again, but I didn't really care. How could he even _think _to bring up Bridget? He knew that she is a sensitive issue with me! For all of her eccentricities, Bridget and I had been friends. Not as close as I was to Tucker and Danny (Well, how close I had been to Danny at the time), but she'd been shunned by our classmates just like me (No, having a superhero for a boyfriend did not win me any friends, it just got me stalked by paparazzi.), and I helped her out. She really wasn't as stupid as our peers thought she was.

And then I'd found her that one day in the library after school when the librarian had been gone on some errand.

I read some pretty gory stuff, but seeing Bridget shot through multiple times was no small shock. I don't think I've seen Danny bleed that much when we fought the ghosts. Just a bunch of scrapes and scratches.

So, yes, bringing up Bridget was a big faux pas.

And somewhere in the middle of my enraged inner monologue as I glared at him, I realized that Danny bringing her up meant that something was seriously wrong.

"Of course I remember her," I said, a bit more calmly and folded my arms for an explanation.

"Look, I think her murderer was a ghost," he choked out. "I saw her ghost Monday. In the… I mean at school. I've not had time to do anything but patrols, but I'm planning on investigating tomorrow night."

He looked slightly spooked or…well, I can't really say. Something was bothering him and I arched an eyebrow. "You saw her ghost?"

"Yes!"

"In the girl's locker room?"

"Yes!"

He paused and I grinned as he gave me a Deer-In-Headlights stare.

"I mean, no! Well, yes. How did you know?"

"I felt your ghost sense go off." I didn't add, 'but that still means you were in there beforehand, you sneak!'. "You looked shaken the rest of the day."

He nodded. "Yeah. Suddenly an unsolved murder might have a solution. And it really is up to me to find it."

I frowned. Was that what he was worried about? I'd never known Danny to shirk away from his responsibilities……..okay, I take that back. He might go for the easy out sometimes, but eventually he understands what's important and fixes it. "She was killed with a gun, Danny. Why would a ghost use a human weapon?"

"I don't know. Maybe they were trying to hide the nature of the crime." His face was scrunched up in thought.

"And why would a ghost want her dead?"

"I don't know that either! I don't have answers Sam, just questions!"

"And you think I have the answers?"

"No…." his voice faded off as he thought for a second. "I just thought, maybe you noticed something weird about the crime scene. Something, I don't know, that wouldn't be in the police reports."

I paused, sitting down at the foot of my bed. I didn't like thinking about that night. But Danny was finally coming to me for help. Maybe things would go back to how they had been. "There was something," I said after a moment of thought. "Next to her body, there was a book lying open… I didn't see anything printed, just blank pages. I never saw it again, after the police got there."

Danny thanked me and said something about checking out the library. But he never actually said if he wanted me to come with him and help or not. He left soon after that. He didn't even try to stay and chat about regular topics. So I have no idea if I'm right back at square one or not. Guess I'll see, won't I?

If Danny wants anything to change between us, he's going to have to be the one to put some effort into this relationship.

* * *

Co-Written by Faith's Melody. Except the cursing. O.O


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